I think he's right. In fact, going undrafted is a real possibility. Chris Polk had a second round grade but went undrafted in large part due to giving terrible interviews. GMs are very wary of people with attitude or mental problems, even more so after the Jovan Belcher incident. The fact that Te'o is clearly still lying saying that he was a victim of his own hoax makes it so much worse.

And Te'o is hardly the missing piece of a championship team. If he was the next Lawrence Taylor, somebody would take the gamble early. But he's basically a run of the mill tackle machine MLB. This is really going to hurt him. Millions of dollars and maybe an NFL dream just went out the window.

Scottemojo wrote:Notre Dame is going to end up wearing the shame too. Supposedly they knew Dec. 26 the story wasn't true, but said nothing til the Deadspin story was set to break.

ESPN will too. It is very obvious that Te'o is lying to cover up his lie. He is a pathological liar that is trying to shift the blame to his accomplice. Te'o has made several conflicting statements that show he is obviously behind it. He has made statements about meeting her in person and even today mentioned talking to her on the phone. How? The "inventor" of this hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, is both male and a close friend of Te'o. Did he just find some random girl to trick Te'o with?

I think he's right. In fact, going undrafted is a real possibility. Chris Polk had a second round grade but went undrafted in large part due to giving terrible interviews. GMs are very wary of people with attitude or mental problems, even more so after the Jovan Belcher incident. The fact that Te'o is clearly still lying saying that he was a victim of his own hoax makes it so much worse.

And Te'o is hardly the missing piece of a championship team. If he was the next Lawrence Taylor, somebody would take the gamble early. But he's basically a run of the mill tackle machine MLB. This is really going to hurt him. Millions of dollars and maybe an NFL dream just went out the window.

Couldn't disagree more with this entire post. New facts are coming to light by the hour. How about waiting for all the facts before crucifying the guy? You may be right when all is said and done but it's far from the certainty you're making it out to be at this point.

Nov. 28, 2009: Te'o and Kekua meet after Stanford's 45-38 victory over Notre Dame in Palo Alto, according to the South Bend Tribune: "Their stares got pleasantly tangled, then Manti Te'o extended his hand to the stranger with a warm smile and soulful eyes." Kekua, a Stanford student, swaps phone numbers with Te'o.

2010-2011: Te'o and Kekua are friends. "She was gifted in music, multi-lingual, had dreams grounded in reality and the talent to catch up to them" (South Bend Tribune). "They started out as just friends," Te'o's father, Brian, told the Tribune in October 2012. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there.

The stuff I've quoted is from from the Deadspin article. They refer to items published in the SB Tribune. Either the Tribune is full of BS or Manti and/or his father lied. Either way, something smells.

I have no idea how this will impact his stock. Me suggesting he could sink like a stone is hardly 'trolling' on a Seahawks message board with one known Notre Dame fan. But then we know you're a sensitive soul, I'm just waiting for you to crack out the 'hater' word again. That worked so well for you last time. Didn't look silly at all.

I have no idea how this will impact his stock. Me suggesting he could sink like a stone is hardly 'trolling' on a Seahawks message board with one known Notre Dame fan. But then we know you're a sensitive soul, I'm just waiting for you to crack out the 'hater' word again. That worked so well for you last time. Didn't look silly at all.

I've been beating this drum for a while. Leukemia was invented by medical corporations to squeeze out more profit.

No, it's a hoax. Not even a real disease.

You know what that means, dont you? The bald kids Russell Wilson visits on Tuesdays are in on it too.

Yes, that was my point. Leukemia is fictional. A fabrication designed to make people THINK they're sick, but really it's just these pills the medical industry gives you. they make you exhibit the signs of this fictional disease, but you don't really have anything. It's like a placebo, only more profitable.

CaptainSkybeard wrote:I hope if this guy really starts to fall in the draft that we can pick him up at a value. This seems like the exact type of thing John and Pete would be all over.

(Remember how Bruce Irvin had "off the field" issues that supposedly effected his draft?)

*affected, and not even close to the same thing. Irvin grew up in a thuggish background and had some red on his ledger, but he was making an effort to turn his life around.

Te'o appears to be a pathological liar who fabricated a girlfriend that got way out of hand, then he killed her off, and rode the crest of the PR wave that followed. Now it's caught up to him and he's trying to lie his way out of it. That's not going to be a good presence in the locker room.

I REALLY hate ND now, they drug our QB into this (no, that's NOT racism, even though Flynn's Somoan). Teo made Wilson visit bald kids, to perpetuate this leukemia fantasy, which supposedly took his imaginary grandfather who was Marques Tuiasopo.

My confusion is how did Teo convince Hass and Dilfer to be bald children too?

pehawk wrote:I REALLY hate ND now, they drug our QB into this (no, that's NOT racism, even though Flynn's Somoan). Teo made Wilson visit bald kids, to perpetuate this leukemia fantasy, which supposedly took his imaginary grandfather who was Marques Tuiasopo.

My confusion is how did Teo convince Hass and Dilfer to be bald children too?

My suspicion is that there are a lot more players involved here than we're aware of, and this is part of a decades-long conspiracy. Flynn's nationality shouldn't come into play, but with things as they are, we can't rule anything out. the baldness is just the beginning. The Leukemia and Lymphoma society? Fronts for Te'o's PR machine. Marques Tuiasosopo is almost certainly a major player in this, and we HAVE to look as Pisa Tinoisomoa as a part of this whole thing. And while we're at it....what's with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson these days? He's Samoan, AND is now a semi-major movie star...what could HIS role be in all of this?

peachesenregalia wrote:I'm freaking out right now. What other massive lies could be out there waiting to be exposed?

I dont know, but I'm pretty sure YOU'RE from France and English is from Norway.

The only way to really make sense of it all is too blame the Jews. It's helping me.

Rob is Norwegian, we already know this to be a fact. I'm NOT from France, but I recently found out that I may or may not have been born in the mountain municipality of Andorra, which is on the border between France and Spain, so I can see where you may have made that mistake. Blaming the Jews can't help us now. Didn't work for Hitler or Mad Max, and it certainly won't work for you.

**UPDATE** - The Rock says he received a phonecall once from Te'o, but never met him in person. Something's definitely amiss here...

peachesenregalia wrote: Blaming the Jews can't help us now. Didn't work for Hitler or Mad Max, and it certainly won't work for you.

Wait a minute...Tom Hardy's involved? Makes sense, he did shave his head in Bronson and in Batman Forever.

EXACTLY. And by that same token, That chick who played Matilda in Leon also shaved her head in that sad abortion of a movie 'V for Vendetta', so we'll need to make sure she doesn't leave the country. This is big. Massive, really.

No, no, no. You're mixing things up. You're thinking of Walken's role in the dodgeball film starring Jack Black, not to be confused with the ping pong movie starring Jerry Stiller and Ricky Vaugn (from Major League).

SuperHawks wrote:Couldn't disagree more with this entire post. New facts are coming to light by the hour. How about waiting for all the facts before crucifying the guy? You may be right when all is said and done but it's far from the certainty you're making it out to be at this point.

Te'o has claimed talking to her on the phone and stories have been written about them meeting in person. The person who set it up is a close friend of Te'o's. For argument's sake, let's say Te'o really is innocent. That would mean that the perp (who is male) had to bring in a girl act the part on the phone for a 4 year period as part of this scheme (and this is assuming that Te'o is telling the truth about the phone calls, which he may not be), and it would also mean that Te'o didn't bat an eye and find anything suspicious when reports came out the last few years talking about how he and his GF had met and spent time together, met at Stanford, etc, all of which was 100% false and he knew it, lying or not. If he really was innocent, he should have been tipped off by the false stories claiming they had met in person.

Frankly, I am amazed that ESPN is buying it.

Edit: Te'o said in his own words that he and his dad had met her in person. Now let's say that the girl was a fake, which is really reaching. But for argument's sake, it's a fake. Don't you think he would have noticed that her picture was different on facebook (the picture on facebook is of a girl who had no idea of what was going on and had never met Te'o).

SuperHawks wrote:Couldn't disagree more with this entire post. New facts are coming to light by the hour. How about waiting for all the facts before crucifying the guy? You may be right when all is said and done but it's far from the certainty you're making it out to be at this point.

Te'o has claimed talking to her on the phone and stories have been written about them meeting in person. The person who set it up is a close friend of Te'o's. For argument's sake, let's say Te'o really is innocent. That would mean that the perp (who is male) had to bring in a girl act the part on the phone for a 4 year period as part of this scheme (and this is assuming that Te'o is telling the truth about the phone calls, which he may not be), and it would also mean that Te'o didn't bat an eye and find anything suspicious when reports came out the last few years talking about how he and his GF had met and spent time together, met at Stanford, etc, all of which was 100% false and he knew it, lying or not. If he really was innocent, he should have been tipped off by the false stories claiming they had met in person.

Frankly, I am amazed that ESPN is buying it.

ESPN isn't buying it. They are trying to both cover their ass for not fact checking, and minimize their role in the huge push to get him a heisman. SVP today was saying that if Teo was in on it, he is a better actor than anyone in Hollywood.

Also, they are spinning it as a generational gap, where us old dudes don't understand how 20 year old kids can have internet relationships. And trying to say that at most, he is guilty of embellishing by adding the parts about actually meeting her.

For all we know, he was pretending to have a girlfriend to keep people and family from passing judgement on him about it (something guys have been known to do), and when the pressure was on for people to meet her, his only option was to say she died.

Really don't care. I've met people who lie all the time about stupid stuff and it's almost always to garner attention or to avoid it. Manti is a good football player and the only issue I see is the effect of the media and fans going gonzo over it. I hope he comes out of this okay.

For all we know, he was pretending to have a girlfriend to keep people and family from passing judgement on him about it (something guys have been known to do), and when the pressure was on for people to meet her, his only option was to say she died.

Really don't care. I've met people who lie all the time about stupid stuff and it's almost always to garner attention or to avoid it. Manti is a good football player and the only issue I see is the effect of the media and fans going gonzo over it. I hope he comes out of this okay.

This is more than a lie, though. He was trying to manipulate people's emotions, and has shown no remorse for what he's done. In fact he continues to lie saying he was the victim. He is either a ruthless attention whore or he's a mild sociopath. Maybe both. This is a big deal for draft stock. High rated players have fallen far for less. GM's view draft picks as business decisions. And when they get scared off by stuff like this, those players can get scratched off draft boards completely. Imagine if you were caught lying in a job interview. Even if you were clearly the best candidate, you probably wouldn't get the job. The NFL draft process is one giant job interview, and stuff like this matters so much, it can't be overstated.

Last edited by kearly on Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

For all we know, he was pretending to have a girlfriend to keep people and family from passing judgement on him about it (something guys have been known to do), and when the pressure was on for people to meet her, his only option was to say she died.

Really don't care. I've met people who lie all the time about stupid stuff and it's almost always to garner attention or to avoid it. Manti is a good football player and the only issue I see is the effect of the media and fans going gonzo over it. I hope he comes out of this okay.

Really? So, fabricating a scam to garner attention which then leads to a Heisman trophy nomination isn't a big deal to you? How is not letting it snowball into a 'she's dead," story better than coming clean right away that she doesn't exist? Your post boggles my mind, and I hope Te'o gets what he deserves, which is lost draft status and lost respect for the confabulation. You act like he's some sort of sad victim of powers outside his control. Liars should get what they deserve.

For all we know, he was pretending to have a girlfriend to keep people and family from passing judgement on him about it (something guys have been known to do), and when the pressure was on for people to meet her, his only option was to say she died.

Really don't care. I've met people who lie all the time about stupid stuff and it's almost always to garner attention or to avoid it. Manti is a good football player and the only issue I see is the effect of the media and fans going gonzo over it. I hope he comes out of this okay.

Neither Scottemojo nor kearly have to concoct stories of dead GF's to mask their private lives (not that there's anything wrong with that).